Cabinet establishes flood situation command center, acting PM as chairman, uses budget to take care of, prevent, solve, and provide urgent relief, aims to include it in the national agenda to solve the recurring flooding problem after the new Cabinet has been formed. Ms. Nattareeya Thaweewong, Deputy Secretary-General to the Prime Minister for Administration, announced after the cabinet meeting that Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Acting Prime Minister, raised the issue of the water situation for discussion in the meeting because it is an issue that has widespread impacts. There has been widespread discussion that it is a recurring and chronic issue for a long time, including water management, water storage with no water storage in the northern region that can store water for use, and preventing flash floods, which cause damage every year and require assistance for people who are suffering every year, especially this year when there is a large amount of water. The m eeting discussed that the rain that fell was different from the past because it fell in spots, which is a direct result of global warming, which we must deal with as the situation is increasing day by day. Ms. Nattareeya said that the meeting agreed that the solution must be divided into 3 levels: immediate solution of how to drain water to prevent it from spreading further, and how to help and compensate the people after the water recedes, and most importantly, long-term solution, which must be a national agenda on water management, which when the cabinet comes to administer the country, will be included as an urgent agenda to proceed with handling the situation immediately. Ms. Nattareeya said that the meeting predicted that the situation in some areas has improved, but many areas still have severe water situations, such as Sukhothai Province, which is admitted to be an area that receives water before it is drained to various rivers, which is quite heavy. When the various embankments encounter a large amo unt of water, they cannot receive the water and cause it to collapse. The embankments that are currently being built also have problems with land expropriation, which Mr. Phumtham has ordered to solve the problem quickly. Ms. Nattareeya said that solving this problem must be unified by setting up a flood situation command center organized in the form of a committee but with clear powers, duties and budget, with Mr. Phumtham, acting prime minister, as chairman, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, as vice chairman and Captain Thammanat Prompao, minister of agriculture and cooperatives, as vice chairman. The committee will be divided into two parts: water management, drainage, and warning, which will be overseen by the Minister of Agriculture to ensure that everyone is informed of the water level and to prevent panic. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society have confirmed that there will be no flooding like in 2011. As for the care a nd assistance for the people, the Minister of the Interior will be the main person in integrating assistance from all agencies. While the budget of the Flood Situation Command Center, the Acting Prime Minister will consider from what each party proposes, which will use the central budget to provide relief. However, the provinces that have declared disasters will have a reserve budget that can be used of 20 million baht. If it is not enough, the organization will request the central budget according to the next steps. He confirmed that the central budget has been prepared sufficiently and does not overlap with the budget to be used in the digital wallet project. Ms. Nattariya said that once this committee is in place, all operations will be swift and respond to the people's distress in a timely manner. 'The duties include prevention, correction, remedy and rehabilitation, which must be considered in each province. For example, Nan Province, the flood situation has passed and will enter the compensation and rehabilitation process. As for provinces where the water has not yet arrived, how will they be protected? For example, Nakhon Sawan Province or lower, they must find preventive and remedy measures, not work defensively,' said Ms. Nattareeya. Source: Thai News Agency